Supporting young people with Tourette Syndrome – UK

Charity:
Tourettes Action

Tourettes Action helps children and young people with Tourette Syndrome live their lives to the full.

Country

UK

Start Year:

2024

Run Time:

3 years

Participant Age:

6-16

Which UN SDGs?

Please select listing to show.

What is Co-Funding?

Co-funding with the ALMT allows individuals, other Trusts and Foundations, and Companies to contribute funds directly to individual, vetted and approved, project partnerships. With fifteen years of experience awarding grants and working in partnership with children’s organisations around the world, the ALMT is best placed to support you in your philanthropy.

Tourette Syndrome (TS) is a complex inherited neurological condition for which there are no NICE guidelines, so no national clinical pathway to diagnosis or dedicated treatment pathway.

Young people with Tourette Syndrome experience involuntary vocal and motor tics that can wax and wane and change, making them unpredictable. They vary from seemingly “mild” but exhausting to more intense and potentially harmful. The repetitive nature of tics can also make them painful, and many people suffer from fatigue and problems sleeping.

The majority of people with Tourette Syndrome also experience co-occurring conditions including intrusive thoughts, anxiety, rages and ADHD, Autism and OCD. Many people with Tourette Syndrome try to suppress their tics, which are often misinterpreted as bad behaviour. As a consequence, many young people spend a lot of time out of the classroom, are often bullied and written off as a failure. They may struggle to make friends, leaving them isolated, lonely and anxious.

This three-year project will support children and young people with TS through an Annual TEENfest for teens with TS, providing them with the chance to ‘fit in’, make friends and build their confidence.

Tailored training and support sessions will be also provided for schools that may be in crisis/struggling to support a pupil with TS and online information about TS will be updated and improved.

Related Projects

Amala Education is dedicated to providing innovative, post-primary education programmes for refugee and conflict-affected youth, enabling them to transform their lives, communities, and the world.

All Ears Cambodia (AEC) helps detect, treat and mitigate hearing loss in children, working at hospitals, schools and communities.

All Ears (AEC) provides ear and hearing medical services in Cambodia by building partnerships with government bodies and institutes, hospitals, schools and communities.

Linda Norgrove Foundation supports education, health and childcare for women and children in Afghanistan affected by war.